8Th Grade US History

Language Arts

7th

Interactive Student Notebook

What is the purpose of the notebook?

The purpose of the interactive notebook is to enable you to be a creative, independent and reflective thinker and writer throughout the year. Interactive notebooks will be used for class notes as well as for other activities where you will be asked to express your own ideas and process and or apply the information and skills learnedin this class. It also helps you review for Chapter/Unit Tests.

What materials do I need?

1. Left-side spiral bound notebook: college ruled, 120 sheets minimum, 11x8 ½ in, white paper, three hole-punched

2. highlighters

3. gluestick

4. assorted color pencils(magic markers tend to bleed through pages messing up other assignments)

How should my notebook be organized?

Your notebook will be organized into a Left Side and a Right Side.(Hence the need for a left-side spiral-bound notebook)

What goes on the right side of my notebook?

Any activity assigned by your teacher for the notebook should be done on the right side of your notebook. Examples of assignments might be creating a graphic organizer from a worksheet about the parts of a plot or notes defining the different types of figurative language to be covered.

What goes on the left side of my notebook?

The left side of your notebook will be used for a variety of different activities. Left side activities will ask you to demonstrate your understanding of new ideas. You might, for example, create an illustrated plotline of events in a story on the left side opposite a set of questions you had just answered about that story.

It is expected that you revisit your right side information by applying it on the left side of your notebook. Normally any work that you will do on your left side is unassigned. This means that you must consistently go back to your notes, activity, or essay that had been assigned by your teacher to further process or apply what you have learned. That is what makes the notebook “interactive” and causes the student to revisit and study concepts more frequently.

How will it be possible to earn an “A” on my notebook?

A student that expects to earn an A- or higher grade on the notebook will be the one who has taken the time to consistently include unassignedleft side assignments that showapplication of concepts and skills taught in class for each right side work assigned by the teacher.

What are examples of unassigned, left-side work?

Venn Diagram ___Word Gram ___Mind Notes ____Map ___

Concept Web ____Chart/Graph ___Timeline ____ Cause/Effect Charts ___

Drawn/ClipArt ___Metaphors ___Flow Charts ____Connect to Today ___

Personal Responses ____Processed Article ___Illustrated Proverbs ___Poem ___

Comic Strips ___Political Cartoon ___Illustrated Definitions __ Essay ___

Point of View ___Pictoword ____Song/Rap___

All of these can be done for the left side of each right side page. Every individual right side page(even for many pages of the same assignment) must have an accompanying left side activity.

How will my notebook be graded?

Notebooks will be checked periodicallyas a test grade and these checks will not be announced. All class notes and notebook right-side assignments should be included,even for the days in which you were absent. This includes each being recorded in the table of contents. Each right side assignment must be complete, have a heading, and the date assigned or given written on it. Mostly it is checked on being complete but the left sides must be varied (not all the same kind of activity) and not be a simple restatementor a picture with no processing of content from the right side

Then each right side page must have a left side where one or more of the concepts or skills used on the right side is/are applied. All left side non student-created images and articles must have a complete MLA citation.

How long should it take to work on my notebook?

Normally class time is given to work on right side assignments and sometimes this includes time to work on a left side. The expectation is that you will revisit the right side that evening or the next to review the material by completing a left side activity of your own choosing. Once you have a good understanding of the kinds of left side activities that can be done, it should take you about 15 minutes to complete a left side.

What happens if I am absent?

If you are absent, it is your responsibility to obtain notebook assignments from either a classmate or the teacher.You can check the absent folder for handoutsand MY interactive notebook to see the assignment and on which page in the ISN to put the work.

Share the information of this handout with a parent, then, sign on the line below. Then paste it on pages 2 and 3 in the front of your notebook for reference.

______

Student SignatureDate

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Parent SignatureDate